A speeding motorist’s bid to evade justice led to an innocent woman being wrongly convicted and bailiffs arriving at her door, York Crown Court heard.

North Yorkshire Police clocked Katie Bonser, 39, doing 85mph in a 70mph zone on April 6, 2021, said Kelly Clarke, prosecuting.

But when police tried to prosecute her, she used a criminal enterprise set up to help motorists cheat the system instead of giving her own name and address.

As a result, the innocent woman was convicted of speeding and fined. She only learnt about the conviction when court bailiffs arrived at her door demanding she pay the fine she knew nothing about.

Bonser, of Thornhill Road, Steeton with Eastburn, Bradford, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Her solicitor advocate Mazar Khan said she was full of remorse and she had eight children living with her including her own three.

“You richly deserve to go to prison as a deterrence to others,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told her.

“I have no sympathy for you. You are not worthy of sympathy. But I have got to think of a three-year-old, I have got to think of a five-year-old, I have to got to think of a 15-year-old about to do GCSEs. You should have thought about them, rather than yourself.”

He gave Bonser a nine-month prison sentence, but suspended it for two years on condition she does 300 hours’ unpaid work, the maximum possible he could give.

Ms Clarke said Bonser was speeding on the A629 near Cross Hills near Skipton in an Audi. The car’s registered owner was her partner and he told police she was driving.

Bonser then told police she wasn’t driving and sent them the innocent woman’s name and an address.

The police used that information to summon the innocent woman to court. She didn’t attend and was convicted in her absence.

When the court bailiffs arrived at her door, she phoned police.

Detectives compared photos of the innocent woman and Bonser with the photo taken of the speeding motorist and saw who had really been driving.

Mr Khan said when she realised she had been caught speeding, a friend told her “my boyfriend can take care of it” and she had accepted the offer.

Bonser had health issues and her mental health was “not as well as it should be,” said the defence solicitor advocate.